Knitted ware and method of producing same



H. H. HOLMES Aug. 18,v 1953 KNITTED WARE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME Original Filed Aug. 8, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet l lm/d j mi Q v n NQ Q \l M /v M v w m hun. w w Rg@ m. v vw w, Gv. w m m m Wm, .llllllllg .l Il f1 ffff raf/55A' I 1| lm H. u: N.\J..N@P$ n a 3 .M .l l RFEF@ .M x nfg h S x fm@ M. w w Wj@ M H F ..-E l H @53 f mi Yi mls A tlorne y Aug. 18, 1953 H. H. HOLMES KNITTED WARE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SA 3E 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Aug. 8. 1947 A Harney H. H. HOLMES Aug. 18, 1953 KNITTED WARE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME Original Filed Aug. 8, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug. 1s, 1953 H. n. HOLMES `2,648,963'

KNTTED WARE AND METHOD OF' PRODUCING SAME Original Filed Aug. 8, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 F/G.8. r 97. /l//l/l, j @9 3 I s. f u;

'4o Inventor Attorney H. H. HOLMES Aug. 18, 1953 KNITTED WARE AND METHOD oF PRODUCING SAME: original Filed Aug. 8, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 A Harney H. H. HOLMES Aug. 1s, 1953 KNITTED WARE AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME 6 .Sheets-Sheet 6 Original Filed Aug. 8. 1947 A A Inventor HCW/ #ara/a {Sla/Mr;

Attorney atentecll ug. 18, 1:953

KNITTED WARE AND METHOD F PRODUCING SAME Henry Harold Holmes, Leicester,v England,v assignor to Wildt and CompanyyLimited, Leicester, England, a British company Griginal. application August 8 1947, Serial N0. 767,546. ADivided and this. application May 3, 1948Serial No. 24,857. In Great Britain March Section 1, Public Law 690, Augusty 8, 1946 Patent expires March-27, 1959 8 Claims.

This linvention relates to knitted ware, which term includes both fabric and articles, and to a method of producing the same. The present application is a division of application Serial No. 767,546, filed August 3, 1947, and now abandoned.

vThe invention has reference more particularly to lrib knitted ware of the kind comprising a structure of loops composed of a ground yarn or yarns and patterned by plating effect/sin which a wrap thread or threads is or are knitted on the face of the said structure.

One object of the invention is to provide, in the plain knitted panels of rib knitted, more particularly broad rib, ware improved wrap designs as will be hereinafter described.

Another object is the provision of rib`knitted fabric and articles having pattern effects produced by what may conveniently be called panel wrapping in colour over colour designs. In this respect the invention includes within its scope rib knitted ware in which atleast the endmost knitted loops of courses in all the plain knitted panels thereof are intermeshed with wrap stitches.

In panel wrapping, a single wrap thread, fed by a suitable guide, is presented to agroup of plain needles and taken and knitted by 'any selected needle or needles, or by all of the needles, of the said group, according to patterning requirements.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a back View, drawn to a greatly enlarged scale, of a portion of broadrib lfabric patterned in Aaccordance with this. invention,

Figure 2 represents a half-hose including a patterned broad rib leg and instep, as will be hereinafter described,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of-so much of a circular knitting machine ofthe `superimposed cylinder type as is necessary to illustrate some of the mechanism necessary to carry out the aforementioned method,

Figure Il is a fragmentary View showing a group of plain needles andthe manner in which they are selected to receive a Wrap thread presented thereto,

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional View of the upper portion of the machine showing the selector mechanism both for the wrap thread guides and for shogging the latter, for. .the purposes hereinafter to be described,

Figure 6 is a side elevational view, partly in section, 'showing the .mechanismgwhereby -.the wrap thread guides can be shogged-,bodilyzin a `ciroumferential'directionzrelativelyftorthe needles,

Figure 7 is a plan view, partly in section, corresponding to and looking in the direction of the arrow in .Figure 6 and showing, in addition, the top needle cylinder of the machine and the cylindrical carrier for the wrap thread guides,

Figure 8 is a detail sectional plan view taken on the line VIII-VIII of Figure 5,

Figure 9 is a side view of one of the thread guides per se,

Figure 10 is an enlarged detail view showing the lower portion of a guide with its thread wrapped around a needle,

Figure 1l-is a diagrammatic plan view includingwa layout of a few of the groups of needles of the machine and associated wrap thread guides, a deflector for moving the thread guiding portions laterally at appropriate times and a needle selecting arrangement, and

Figures 12-16 are detail plan views illustrating purely `diagrammatic fashion different stages of a thread wrapping operation in which active and .inactive wrapthread guides areemployed. Like parts are designated by similar reference characters throughout the drawings.

Theportion of fabric depicted in Figure 1 comprises `multi-Wale panels'R of inwardly facing rib knittedv loops alternating with multi-Wale panels P1, P2 and P3 of outwardly facing plain knitted' loops. The fabric is a 6 X 3 broad rib and'includes two courses a and b of 1 x 1 rib. At course d in the central panel P2 there is included Aa wrap thread W1 which is knitted into .wales 3 and .4 and thereupon floated at the back Aof the fabric to rcourse e where it -is knitted into wales I, 2, .Evand er From thence the Wrap .thread W1 is again oated at the back of the fabric .to course f Where it is knitted into wales ,2..and 5. y.After being oated to course g the -saidthread is knitted in all wales I-B inclusive. .Atthis stage ,the wrap thread W1 is floated in an inactive position, .and another wrap thread W2 .is .introduced .in panel P2-at course h, in substitution for the thread W1, and is knitted in wales 'If-6 inclusive. The thread W2 is now iioated at -the back of the fabric, and, after beingrknitted in course z' on wales 2 and 5, is .again 'oated at the .back of the fabric, with the` wrap thread W1, `for subsequent inclusion in .the `fabric. VThus `it Will vbe appreciated that in the,.plain 'knitted `panel P2 each of the wrap .threads W1k and W2 vmay, according to the de- .s1gnbe included'inany of the knitted wales at each .of desiredoourses of the panel, including .the two endmost wales immediately adjoining .theadjacent .rib panels 1R, In the panel P1, a

Wrap thread W3, shown in course d, is knitted into wale l and, after being iloated at the back of the fabric for inclusion in other loops (not shown), is knitted into Wale 2 of course e and wales and 3 of course f. The wrap thread W3 is also knitted into the said Wale i at each of the subsequent courses g and h. In a similar way a further wrap thread W4 is knitted into Various loops including those in wale i at courses h, i and 7. Similarly, the wale 6 of panel P3 has wrap threads W5 and W6 knitted thereinto.

The wrap threads of the pairs W1 and W2, W3 and W4 and W5 and W6 may contrast, e. g. as regards colour.

In Figure 2 there is shown a seamless half -hose comprising a welt 9, a 1/1 ribbed top lil, a ribbed leg Il, a similarly ribbed instep I2, Said leg and instep being of an appreciably broader rib than the top l and patternedin accordance with this invention, a plain knitted and non-patterned foot bottom I3 and a plain heel I4 and toe l5. The leg and instep may be 6/3 rib, comprising panels P of six plain knitted wales in Width alternating with groups P of three rib knitted wales. Each of the plain knitted panels P is patterned with panel wrap striping effects such as i6 and il which may be designs of the character illustrated in Figure 1. For instance, each of the designs l5 may be produced from one Wrap thread whilst each of the designs il may be produced from another such thread.

The machine illustrated in Figures 3 and 5 includes rotary bottom and top cylinders 2G and 2| respectively equipped with double-ended needles 22 and associated needle-operating sliders. The sliders in the bottom cylinder are indicated at 23 (see Figure 3), but those customarily provided in the top cylinder have been omitted for convenience in illustration. The bottom cam box is represented at 26 and top cam box at 25. machine is furnished with thread Wrapping mechanism including thread guides 2E in the form of blade-like elements each provided with a thread guiding portion 2l which extends at an angle,

e. g. at right angles, from the main portion of the f blade or like part, said guides being mounted in a cylindrical bed 28 so as to extend in an axial direction or substantially so with respect to the needle cylinders, for movement radially across the needle circle from the inside to the outside and vice versa.

For the purpose of producing the improved knitted ware the needles 22 of the machine are set out to provide spaced groups of plain needles for operation in the bottom cylinder 2G alternating with groups of rib needles for operation in the top cylinder 2 l. The thread guiding portions 2l of the thread guides 26 are fashioned and mounted so as to be adapted to pivot or swivel laterally under spring control as will be hereinafter more fully described, and a deector 29 in the form of a cam or an abutment is so formed and arranged adjacent to such thread guiding portions that when the guides are projected radially7 from their normal position said portions are engaged by the deflector and deflected laterally to the extent of an entire group of plain needles. In this form of the invention the deector 29 is in a common position to all of the guides 26 and lateral deflection or swivelling movement of the portions 21 seriatim is engendered by the rotational movement of the series of guides and the deilector 29 one in relation to the other. Thus, since the machine being described is a revolving cylinder machine, lateral deflection or swivelling move- The 4 ment of the thread guiding portions 21 is engendered, in this particular example, by the rotational movement of the guides 2B in company with the needles 22, in relation to the deflector 29.

Concerning the actual form and construction of the thread guides 26, each of these is conveniently adapted to pivot or rock about a fulcrum point Si] and, as shown more clearly in Figure 9, has on its flat, main, axially extending portion a frontal (pressure) butt 3 I a main butt 32 and an upwardly extending butt 33. At its lower extremity the said main portion is cut at 3 in the manner represented in Figure lo and a part thereof is pressed out laterally and turned down suchwise as to provide an integral nat lug 35. rlhis lug therefore projects from one side of the guide, and constitutes as it were a bracket or support for a small vertically disposed pin 36. This pin is bent over at its upper end so as to make contact with the adjacent side face of the thread guide, while the lower portion of the pin extends through and beneath the lug 35. The aforesaid thread guiding portion 2l is for the most part straight and is provided at its inner end with a bush or sleeve 31 adapted to fit and turn upon the pin 35. Provision of any suitable character may be made to prevent axial displacement of the portion 2'! from the pin. The construction is therefore such that the thread guiding portion can pivot or swing on the pin 36. rlhe lower end of the main portion extends at right angles to the remainder thereof and in this Way is adapted to present a relatively innexible stop or abutment 33 against which the pivotal thread guiding portion 2l is normally pressed by means of a torsion spring 39. This spring is arranged to surround the pin 36 with one end thereof bearing upon the main portion and its opposite end upon the pivotal portion 2'1 as shown in Figure 10. Accordingly, lateral movement of the portion 2l, when required, is eifected against the action of the spring 39. At or near its outer end the pivotal thread guiding portion of each guide 25v may conveniently be formed with a downwardly directed extension 4Q which is provided with one or more, e. g. a pair of, eyes such as il for reception of a wrap thread W.

It has previously been mentioned that the guides 26 are projected radially to enable them to be engaged by the deflector 29. In this partisular example the projection of the guides for this purpose is in an outward direction across the needle circle from the inside to the outside. In this connection, a bank of selector levers or cams 42 (Figure 5) is provided for action selectively upon the pressure butts 3l, so that selected guides are pressed inwards at their upper ends and thereby projected radially at their lower ends. The machine is also furnished with a retracting cam d3 arranged for action upon the upwardly extending butts 33 seriatini for the purpose of restoring selected guides to their normal position. The arrangement is such that after a selected thread guide 26 has been projected radially outwards into the path of the deector, and while the corresponding pivotal thread guiding portion 2l is still deected, the said guide is caused to revert to its normal position, i. e. it is moved radially inwards back across the needle circlethis time from the outside to the inside-thus being brought out of contact with the deflector 29 so that the thread guiding portion springs back to its original position in relation to the needles served by the guide.

Meansv are also provided for effecting appropriate relative lengthwise movement of the neeadress dles 22 and guides 2'6r so that b`y` reason of's'ch' movement and the conjoint lateral deflection of the thread guiding portions 21 the threads W furnished by the guides may be wrapped about all of the needles in the grups'of plain needles served by the respective guides'. In this connection either the needles may be movedY towards the guides or the latter may be moved towards the needles, or both the needles and the guides may be moved lengthwise, appropriate cam or' equivalent means suitably disposed being provided for this purpose in conjunction with cam means for imparting'reverse movement to the needles or/and guides after the wrapping action; In the specic example illustrated the needles 22 are moved lengthwise, and s'uch movement of the needles is taken advantage o1 to move them selectively so that in any group of two or more plain needles served by a guide, one or any one of the group oi said needles may be caused to knit the thread supplied by the guide, while the other or others do not. This last mentioned result may conveniently be achieved by initially moving both or all of the needles in each group to a favourable position to receive the thread supplied by the associated guide, and thereafter imparting further movement to a selected needle or needles suchwise that when sueh needle or needles is or are ultimately retracted andv caused' to knit, the thread passes idly over the needle hook or hooks without being formed into a wrapl stitch or stitches. The manner` in which needles are selected to receive a wrap thread will be clear from a consideration of Figure 4 wherein 'of the group of six plain needles 22Y shown', the iirst, third, fourth and sixth needles have been positioned to take the thread W so that the second andflfth needles of the said group will miss this thread.

The selection of the needles in this way may be eifected by means of a needle selecting arrangement or pattern controlled variable needle selecting means of any suitable type. Thus, as shown in Figures 3 and 11, the said means may comprise a bank of cams 44' controlled by a pindrum 15 (see Figure 11) having therein removable pins l which act upon intermediate levers 41 pivoted individually on a spindle 48. The levers 41 engage the cams it to render same operative or inoperative. In Figure 3, the topmost cam 44' is operative, the other cams beneath it being inoperative. The pin drum 45 may conveniently be racked round by means of a pawl and. ratchet mechanism (not shown). The cams 44 are slidable radially with respect tothe bottom needle cylinder 2e in a bracket 119 mounted on the machine bed. As will be understood, the said cams act selectively upon patterning. butts (Figure 3) of the sliders 23, there being as many butt positions as there are cams but not in everycase a full complement of butts on each slider, butts being broken oir the sliders accordingto pattern requirements. The bank of selecting cams 44 is located adjacent to a knitting cam system oi conventional form in the bottom cam box 24. When any one of the cams is rendered operative by being advanced towards the needlecylinder 2Q by a lever d1 acted uponby a pin 46 in the drum i5 a slider or sliders having a-corresponding butt or butts is raised by reason of the cams being obliquely disposed, and the corresponding needle or needles is or are advancedr somewhat. The remaining sliders are not affected and consequently their needles function inv the normal way. With regard to the aforesaid lengthwise movement of the thread guides 26', a track cam 6 5| (see Figure 51) His providedf'er action on the main butts 32 seriatim, the' formation of the track b eing such that at the wrapping stations the guides arecorrectly positionedfr wrapping.

As already alluded to' herein there may be'. two or more thread guides 26V for each group yof plain needles, and'theseguides may be selectivelyv operated so that either or any one' of them may A be caused toserve the `.needles or any needle of the group. Moreover,` by making provision whereby the cylindrical carrier 28A for vthe thread guides can be shogged bodily in a vcircumf'eren tial direction relatively to the needles to the ex-v tent of a suitable .number of a group of plain needles, it is possible'b'y first enecting a required shoggingmovementvto ,displace the guides an; gularly to a desiredexten't and' thereupon selectively operating the said guides to; substitute one wrap thread for another for presenta; tion to any or all of the plainneedles of a par:- ticular group. That is to say, assuming that there are two guides for each group of plain needles and that one of vthese twov guides is in operation whilst the other is idle, then by shog ging the whole series of guides and selectively operating the same the idle guide of the two concerned can be displacedangularly to the common feeding position in relation to the said group'V f' plain needles and thereby substituted for the other guide whilst the latter is simultaneously moved to its non-feeding position. This will be clearerV from a `considerancm of Figures 1246. In Figure 12 there is depicted a portion of a verge ring `5t (which ring isv fully shown in section in Figure 3), and two'l thread guides 26 of which the hinged thread guiding portions 21 are shown in plan Vwith threads W1 and W2 fed by these guides floating behind' a group e1 of six plain needles; Groups 68 each of three rib needles are shown adjacent to the opposite sides of the group 61 of plain needles. of the two thread guides the oneY indicated at O is in the common wrap thread feeding position whilst the other thread guide indicated at I is idle. At the stage illustrated inl Figure 13 the operative thread guide at O has been selected so thatits thread guiding end 4G is pro# jected' between the last rib needle of' a group 68 and the rst plain needle of a group 61. This projection of the said guide takes place in ad'- vance of the deflector 29, it being. understood that the series of thread guides and the `needles of the machine are travelling together in the direction of the arrow indicated. Referringl now to Figure 14., the thread guiding portion 21 of the operative thread guide at O has, by reason of contact with the deector 29, been deected laterally to an extent suflicient for the thread Wl to have been taken by the first four plain needles of the group 61', the thread guide at I still remaining idle with its wrap thread W2 floating behind thev needles. At the next stage shown in Figure 15; the thread guiding portion 21 'of the operative thread guide at O has completed the wrapping of the group 61 of plain needles and is in the course of being retracted to the inside of the needle circle be'- tweenl the last. plain needle of the groupand the first rib needle' of the adjoining group 68. At this stage the said thread guiding portion has, by reason of continued travel of the thread guides and needles in the direction indicated, left the deector 29. vIn Figure v16v all of the thread guides, including yboth those in' :inoperative po;- siun o andv also those rn air im@ position- I,

are fully retracted. Successive stages of a complete wrapping action of one of the operative thread guides are indicated in chain lines. It will be noted that at the position D, that is to say at the termination of its wrapping action, an Operative guide will contact the end of an idle guide and deflect it against its spring action, this, however, being in no way detrimental. Rib knocking over bits mounted in the verge ring 6B are shown at 69 in VFigure 16. When it is required to substitute the operative guides at O for the idle guides at I, angular displacement of the whole series of guides, relatively to the needles, to the extent of the angle a, i. e. the pitch of the guides, is effected by the shogging mechanism hereinafter to be described with reference to Figures 5, 6 and 7.

For selection of the thread guides selector levers or cams 42 are, as hereinbefore alluded to, provided for action selectively upon the appropriately distributed pressure butts 3|. These selector levers or cams are adapted to be rendered operative and inoperative under the control of a drum 52 which is included in a pattern device or unit hereinafter to be described.

The deector 29 may occupy a xed position both circumferentially and radially with respect to the thread guides 26 so that wherever a guide is rendered operative the thread guiding portion 2 thereof is deflected as a matter of course. The deector 29 is adapted for sliding movement radially within a bracket 53 attached to the top of the cam box 24 and is controlled by a tension spring 54. One end of this spring is anchored to the bracket 53 while the opposite end thereof is anchored t a pin 55 carried by the deflector 29. The operative, i, e. innermost, position of the deector is determined by a screw abutment 55 Vwhich is carried by the enlarged outer end 5l of said defiector and adapted at its leading end to make contact with an appropriate part of the bracket 53. By suitable adjustment of the screw abutment 56 the innermost position of the deector can be carried within limits. A lever 58 adapted to be controlled by or from the main controlling or timing mechanism of the machine is provided for operating the deflector according to requirements. The operative extremity of this lever is arranged to press upon the outer end of the deiiector (see Figure 3), the arrangement being such that the latter is pressed into its operative position against the spring action and permitted to return at appropriate times to a normal inoperative position under said action. In any event, the deflector may be in the form of a cam having an operative edge or face 59 appropriately shaped (for instance as represented in Figures 11 and 13-16) and positioned in the manner shown with respect to the path followed by the thread guiding portions 0f any thread guide moved radially in advance of the group of plain needles to be served, so as to hold the engaged guide deflected for the appropriate length of time.

The cylindrical carrier 28 for the guides 25 is rotatably mounted upon a sleeve 80 depending from the top plate 6| of the machine. The wrap striping threads W may be guided from bobbins, cones, spools or reels mounted upon a rotary bracket through tubes 62 appropriately assembled within the sleeve 6D. The customary gear ring 63 on the top cylinder 2| is furnished with grooved securing segments 64. A gear ring 65 is arranged normally to drive the cylindrical carrier 28 at the same speed as the top cylinder 2|.

The aforementioned means for shogging the thread guides 26 bodily in a circumferential direction relatively to the needles 22 is of the character described in prior United States Patent No. 2,065,469. This mechanism is employed as and when required to drive the cylindrical carrier 28 independently. Broadly considered, said shogging mechanism comprises a pinion 10 freely mounted upon the top cylinder driving shaft 1|. The pinion 'i9 is driven by a reel I2 slidably keyed on the shaft 1I and having opposed steeped cams 73 and 14 radially offset and engaged by rollers l5 and 'i8 on ra pattern controlled slide The reel 12 also has a driving dog 18 with stepped edges i9 to engage opposed screws arranged on the underside of the pinion lil. The screws 80 are carried by slidable bars 8| which are adjustable so that the amount of shogging for a predetermined movement can be varied. A gear 82 which is rotatable with the shaft 'il meshes with the teeth on the gear ring 63 and the pinion 'i8 meshes with the teeth on the gear ring 85. With this arrangement, therefore, the cylindrical carrier 28 can either be driven from and at the same speed as the top cylinder 2| (as it would normally be). or it can be shogged in either direction to the extent required by appropriate axial movement of the reel 'i2 upon the shaft '|I.

It is convenient here to mention that the structure serving to support the aforesaid bobbins, spools, cones or the like is mounted upon a rotary toothed part 83 which is adapted to mesh with and thereby be driven by a gear wheel 84 in turn driven by the shaft 1|.

The shogging mechanism may conveniently be adapted to be controlled by the same pattern device or unit as that which is used selectively to operate the selector levers or cams 42. The pattern device or unit shown is of the general character described in prior United States Patent No. 2,196,073. As will be seen, the said device or unit comprises two drums 52 and 85, one xedly and the other freely mounted co-axially on a hollow spindle 86 in turn rotatably mounted on a fixed axle 81. The freely mounted drum 52 is formed with a neck 88 having a radial lug 89. The spindle 86 has keyed thereon ratchet wheels 90 and 9| arranged so as to enable forward or reverse rotation to be imparted to the spindle according to requirements. The ratchet wheel 90 is connected with the neck 88 by an arrangement comprising, in combination, a pair of arcuate blocks 92 (see Figure 8) located in a circular groove 93 in the wheel, one on each side of the lug 89, a tension spring 94 engaged with a pair of screws 95 one in each block at the end opposing the lug 89, a pair of screws 96 one inserted in each block at the other end, and a pair of plates 91 attached to the ratchet wheel 90 in the positions shown in Figure 8. The drum 52 has a toothed ring 98 attached to it, and a catch 99 is urged into engagement with said ring so -as normally to prevent rotation of the drum. The catch 99 is operated by any `suitable means in timed relation with the operative strokes of pawl Iand ratchet mechanism by means of which the spindle 88 is racked round. The arrangement is such that normally the spring 94 pulls the nearby ends of the blocks 92 11p against the lug 89. When the ratchet wheels 90 and 9| are racked in either direction the drum 85 is racked to a corresponding extent land the spring 94 is tenthe needles. Both of the drums are adapted to receive pins or pegs, those in the drum 52 being for action upon the selector cam-s or levers 42, and those such as |0| in the drum 85 for action on a lever` |02. The lever |02 may be pivoted and adapted to effect through any suitable intermediate mechanism (not shown), movement of the slide 1l. A spring-pressed disc |03 is adapted to act frictionally on the bottom of the drum 85 to prevent the latter from over-running when racked round. The disc |03 is held down by an intermediate member |04 which is in turn acted upon by compression springs such as |05.

'The slide 'l1 is mounted for movement'horizontally and at its inner end is formed with an extension |06 on which the rollers l5 and 16 are mounted So as to be located in diilierent vertical and horizontal planes. The corresponding steps Aofthe cams .13 and 14 are off-set with respect to each other in a radial direction on the reel to suit the positions of the rollers 'l5 and 16 so that each is enabled to be acted upon by its respective cam.

Each of the slidable bars 8| is mounted for adjustment inwards and outwards radially in relation to the axis of the pinion 10 so as to enable the degree of turning movement effected by a predetermined adjustment of the slide `'l1 to be varied. Referring to Figures 6 and '7 it will be seen that the upper edges of the slidable bars 8| are received in longitudinal guideways |01 formed in the underside of the pinion 10 and are adapted to be clamped to the sides of a rectangular block |08 formed integrally with said pinion by means of screws |09. To permit of the lengthwise -adjustment of the slidable bars 8| the latter are formed with longitudinal slots |0-one for each screw |09.

Means of any appropriate character may be provided for restricting the wrap striping action to a particular area or Iareas of the knitted fabric or article, as for example in the production of seamless hosiery such as the article shown in Figure 2 and/or for entirely nullifying `said action, as for example in a seamless hosiery machine during reciprocatory knitting or the production of a 1x1 rib top. In the specific machine illustrated in Figures 3 and 5, the pattern device or unit (shown in Figure 5) may for this purpose be arranged for swinging movement bodily away from the thread guides at appropriate times. In any event the control may be from the existing timing or control mechanism of the machine or from an auxiliary mechanism through intermediate means of any conventional character.

Spring or spring controlled thread take-up elements or means may be provided, e. g. one for each wrap thread.

As will be appreciated, by the use of a machine equipped with the mechanism herein before described it is possible to produce all manner of panel wrapping designs in which a single wrap thread is included in any selected knitted loop or loops, or in all of the loops, of the same course, in a plain knitted panel, ,Since al1 the plain .knitted loops of the said panels.

needles or" a group are within the lateral extent of the wrapping action of a relevant thread guide, selection of the said needles from course to course will naturally aord the possibility of obtaining any design. Moreover, the mechanism described enables such designs to be produced in successive plain knitted panels, with, if desired, wrap effects included in the-endmost This is made possible by the use of a deiiector the operative end (such as of which is stationary 'inl relation to the circumferential movement of the series of thread guides. Thus, referring to Figure l5, it will be seen that the hinged thread guidingportion 2l of a thread guide 26 is not brought into contact with the deflector 29 until the latter is opposite the space between the last rib needle of the rib panel 50 immediately preceding the panel el' of plain `needles to b e wrapped and the irst of said plain needles and is not disengaged from contact with the deflector 29 until, by reason of its deiiection, it is positioned between the last plain needle of the said group and the rib needle of the panel E8 on the opposite side of the group El.

. What I claim then is:

1. Broad rib knitted ware comprisir1g multi- .wale panels .of inwardly facing rib knitted-loops alternating with multi-Wale panels of outwardly facing plain knitted loops, and a plurality of wrap threads each of which is included in all the plain knitted loops, including the two endmost loops, in the same course, in a plain knitted panel that is at least four wales wide, the groups of wrapped loops being thereby separated, coursewise, to the extent only of one rib knitted panel.

2. The method of knitting comprising the steps of reversely drawing loops in a course so as to produce spaced multi-Wale panels of inwardly facing rib knitted loops and intervening multiwale panels of outwardly facing plain knitted loops, and interknitting a wrap thread with a plurality of loops in the same course, including at least the two endmost loops, coursewise, of a plain knitted panel having a width of at least four wales.

3. The method of knitting comprising the steps or" reversely drawing loops in a course so as to produce spaced multi-Wale panels of inwardly facing rib knitted loops and intervening multiwale panels of outwardly facing plain knitted loops, and knitting a wrap thread with any of the adjacent loops of a course in each of the l plain knitted panels including the two endmost loops, coursewise, of said panels so as to produce wrap effects separated, coursewise, by the rib panels only.

Il. In a method of knitting a circular seamless article of footwear comprising knitting a top portion, a broad-ribbed leg and instep portion and integral heel, sole and toe portions, said leg portion being knit of body yarn with groups of outwardly facing stitches forming face panels separated by inwardly facing stitches forming rib wales, the improvement that comprises knitting a wrap yarn in plating relation with the body yarn in a plurality of stitches in the same course of a face panel in each of a plurality of successive courses including stitches immediately adjacent said rib wales to form a wrap design extending in a coursewise direction to the edges of said face panel.

5. Broad rib knitted ware comprising multiwale rib panels of inwardly facing rib knitted 11 loops alternating with multi-Wale plain panels of outwardly facing plain knitted loops, and at least one wrap thread included in the same course in at least the two endmost wales of a plain knitted panel having a Width of at least four Wales, so that wrap eiects appear in wales immediately adjoining the rib panels on opposite sides of said plain panel.

6. Broad rib knitted Ware comprising multi- Wale panels of inwardly facing rib knitted loops alternating with multi-Wale panels of outwardly facing plain knitted loops, said plain panels being at least four wales Wide, and a plurality of wrap threads incorporated in successive plain knitted panels to form Wrap stitch effects, each of said wrap threads being incorporated in a plurality of stitches in the same course in a plain panel, including stitches in the end wales of said plain panel, so that the Wrap stitch effects in successive plain knitted panels are separated to the extent of one rib panel only.

7. Broad rib knitted ware comprising multi- Wale rib panels of inwardly facing knitted loops alternating with multi-Wale plain panels of outwardly facing plain knitted loops and at least one wrap thread included in a plurality of stitches in the same course of a plain panel of at least four Wale width, the Wrap yarn being in- 12 eluded in the rst and last wales of lsaid plain panel to form a wrap pattern that extends from edge to edge of said plan panel.

8. The method of knitting a broad ribbed fabric comprising the steps of reversely drawing loops in a course so as to produce spaced multi- Wale panels of inwardly facing rib knitted loops and intervening multi-Wale panels of outwardly facing plain knitted loops, incorporating at least one wrap thread in each of a plurality of plain knitted panels, wrapping a plurality of selected loops of the same course in each of said plain knitted panels including loopsI in the endmost wales of said panels so as to produce Wrap effects separated only by the intervening rib knitted panels.

HENRY HAROLD HOLMES.

References Cited in thevle of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date l2,045,459 Getaz June 23, 1936 2,170,076 Houseman Aug. 22, 1939 2,302,946 Holmes Nov, 24, 1942 2,358,640 Holmes Sept. 19, 1944 2,376,246 GetaZ May 15, 1945 2,387,253 Getaz Oct. 23, 1945 

